R.E.M. REVEAL NEW ALBUM WILL BE CALLED COLLAPSE INTO NOW

Best-selling rock band R.E.M. have revealed that the title of their 15th studio album will be Collapse Into Now. The album will be released in Spring 2011 by Warner Bros. Records. BBC Radio 6 broke the news on its Twitter feed after R.E.M.’s manager Bertis Downs revealed the title at the In the City conference.

R.E.M., which is singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills, re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the band’s acclaimed previous album Accelerate, to make Collapse Into Now. Lee is also noted for his work on albums by U2, Snow Patrol, The Hives, and indie stalwarts Kasabian, Editors, Aqualung, and Bloc Party.

R.E.M. and Lee recorded the album in New Orleans at the Music Shed and in Berlin at the famed Hansa Studios, where several legendary albums, including David Bowie’s Heroes, U2’s Achtung Baby, and Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life, were made. Additional recording and mixing were done at the venerable Blackbird Studio in Nashville.